Karen Vieira Powers is an Andeanist ethnohistorian who has studied the Andes for more than 30 years, and has spent 16 years working in the Arizona university system. She is the author of two award-winning books, Andean Journeys: Migration, Ethnogenesis and the State in Colonial Quito, 1500-1700, which was awarded the Cline prize in 1997 by the AHA- affiliated Conference on Latin American History. Her second book, Women in the Crucible of Conquest: the Gendered Genesis of Spanish American Society, was awarded the Thomas McGann prize in 2006 by the Rocky Mountain Council on Latin American Studies. She has been the recipient of research grants from numerous external granting agencies.

Supported with a Grant from the U.S. Department of Education, Title VI Program